After a particularly ill-executed turn onto a side street, unit 44 is able to spin the truck into a telephone pole. And that’s when the action starts.

As you can see, the officer takes a tumble. The ruffian probably thought he was home free at that point.

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Unfortunately, he forgot one thing: As a general rule, cops are more fit than criminals. Thus, even after doing an impromptu somersault on asphalt, another officer still managed to catch up with the suspect.

In all fairness, he’d collapsed onto a lawn, but hey — still a pretty epic takedown.

Considering that he’d hit at least one car and “swiped an innocent bystander” during his run from justice, the takedown was also more than justified.

“I was right in the middle of the turn, this truck comes flying by me,” said Shari Boudreau, who witnessed the chase firsthand. “He’s less than four inches away from me. I just froze. I figured right then I was in a high-speed chase.”

According to police, the little punk had lifted some of the wares from Big O Tires in Huntington Beach. You can even see the tires in the bed of the truck.

I know it’s Southern California and high-speed chases will always be de rigueur for the criminally-minded, but let’s please remember: they’re only tires. That’s going to get you a lot less time in prison than a “Starsky & Hutch”-style chase through residential neighborhoods.